Asalaamu alaikum sister. I just
finished reading the thread from the Wiccan girl in Florida. I'm
sorry, but I have to comment! I think she is slightly psychotic! She obviously
did not have good intentions and does not respect others' views.
Frankly, she is not even completely coherent or logically responsive!
She is not worth any more of your time. I don't even know where her
reference to Nation of Islam came from, since we all know that they are
not representative of Islam at all, and as far as I could see were mentioned
nowhere else in the thread.

I was a Wiccan before I became
Muslim, and I have to say she is doing a bad job of portreying them honestly
also!

First, Wiccan's do believe that
all religions are one and that all gods and goddesses are one, just called
by different names by different people. Therefore, for that reason
alone, she should not have any problems with Islam.

Second, if she knew anything about
Islam itself, she would see that Islam (not necessarily people) give women
all the rights that Wicca gives. The only difference is that Wicca
makes men relatively disposable, whereas Islam shows that both sexes have
a divine purpose.

Also, true Wiccan women are not
more "liberated" than Muslim women; back in history, Wiccan women wore
veils, avoided contact with men, and even had to send their male children
away for fostering to keep that strict separation of sexes.

I am from the US and a white convert
to Islam, so I do know what American Muslims are like. I have not
visited the other Muslim countries (or even any other non-Muslim country)
yet. I can only speak for how Arabs here have treated me, and that
was not good. A lot of them have that idea, like the Arabian woman who
responded to your thread, that Islam was brought to them first, implying
that they are "the chosen". Well, the reason Muhammad (SAW) brought
it to them was because they were so morally lacking that they needed it,
and it had already been brought to two other groups (in what is now seen
as Judaism and Christianity) before them.

On the other hand, although I
have had bad experiences with Arab Muslims, either because they call themselves
Muslim but do not live Islam (I could give specific examples of "abuse"
I received, but that's really another discussion) or because they had a
higher-than-thou attitude, I understand that I can only speak from my own
experience and that is limited. I am sure that there are a lot of
Arabs, both Muslim and non-Muslim, that are great people.

And that brings up another point
too, being Arab does not mean they are Muslim. There are a lot of
Arabian Christians, and I am sure there are a lot of Arabs that practice
no religion. And, unfortunately, for a lot of Arabs (and I think
to some degree this is also true here in the US for African-Americans that
were raised Muslim, especially NOI), Islam is seen as a tradition and a
culture, rather than as a real system of beliefs. Much in the same
way that a lot of Christians here say they are Christian because that is
what they were raised, but they do not go to church, read the Bible, pray
or anything else.

To that end, I suppose you could
say that because this is a Christian country, everything that happens in
it (abortion, babies born out of wedlock, murder, suicide, drunk driving,
drug use, etc. - and there have been lots of highly publicized and not
publicized cases of children being killed or dumped in a dumspter at birth
within the last few years) is a product of Christianity? No, we would
not say that - none of those things are espoused in the Bible, in fact
they are all forbidden in the Bible as much as in the Qur'an.

I am sorry that the Arab woman
was offended by your comments, but I think she misunderstood them.
Perhaps she could not help having her judgement colored by the fact that
it directly related to her and is not true of her or her family.
I agree with you that you were only answering the Wiccan girl's claims
and cannot prove that they are completely untrue.

Of course there are Muslims (Arab
and otherwise) that believe that Christians do not matter and that gives
Muslims the right to take from them or treat them badly - I have met a
lot of Muslims that feel that way. And there are ungrateful people
in all cultures - ask her to look at the first letter from a sister on
the Ladies Forum showed on your site, where the sister says her father
helped her husband get his business started and her husband shows no gratitude.

People sure do have a hard time
separating religion from people's actions. Of course you need to site the
Qur'an and Hadith, and if necessary even the Bible and the Torah, to show
continuity. What is in scripture is what Islam is, what people do
is their own choice. No group should be held accountable for those
that choose to do their own thing. Allah is perfect and Islam is
His perfected religion - we as humans are highly imperfect and cannot represent
Islam perfectly at all times, but that is our own personal jihad.

Please continue your good work.
Do not let foolish people or even well-meaning but incorrect people to
bring you down. You will not always be exactly right, but you do
the best you can. I think your site is the best site I have ever
seen. May Allah bless you.